Ducks prep for Arizona

The Oregon men’s basketball team knows it has been bouncing on the NCAA Tournament bubble since its recent struggles that have reached six losses in eight games. The players also know a win at No. 2 Arizona on Thursday could vault the Ducks back into the field by most projections.

“That’s a great resume win,” senior forward Mike Moser said. “I think we all understand how important that is as far as the NCAA Tournament.”

Those are the things coach Dana Altman doesn’t want his team worrying about this week.

“Shows you how much they listen,” Altman joked. “I told those guys not to worry about that, worry about the next game. We’ve dug ourselves a hole. I have no idea where we are at. We just have to go win a game.”

Up next is Arizona, which is 21-1 after its loss to California last week knocked them down to No. 2 in the AP poll.

“Defensively, I think they are as good as we’ve faced,” Altman said. “Sean (Miller) always does a good job defensively with his clubs, but add in the athleticism and size of this team and defensively they are very good. Offensively, they do a lot of good things. They know where they want the ball to go.”

Arizona will be without 6-8 sophomore Brandon Ashley, who averaged 11.5 points and 5.8 rebounds before suffering a broken foot against Cal. Miller said that 6-7 freshman Rondae Hollis-Jefferson will replace Ashley in the line-up and the Wildcats will need to expand their seven-man rotation.

“They have a lot of good players waiting for an opportunity,” Altman said. “It’s not like they look down the bench and don’t have anybody to put in there. Sean has kept his rotation fairly tight, but this will give somebody else a chance.”

As for Oregon, the Ducks hope to build on a 78-66 win over USC on Saturday. Moser bounced back from a scoreless game against UCLA on Thursday to score 13 points with six rebounds and four assists against the Trojans. Moser has struggled with his shot in Pac-12 play after being Oregon’s second-leading scorer in nonconference play.

“I wouldn’t say I lost any confidence, I was just really disappointed in how I have been playing in the whole month of January,” he said. “It is a new month, so hopefully I can turn it around and get going.”

Point guard Johnathan Loyd said there is a chance he can shed the facemask he wore after suffering a broken nose in practice last week.

“It’s pretty annoying,” he said. “You start sweating and it starts sliding. You try and move it and it gets foggy. It is what it is.”

Steve Mims covers Oregon football, men's basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. He has been a sportswriter at the paper since 1999 and covered high school sports while also reporting on Oregon football in the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl as well as men's basketball during their Elite 8 run in 2007 and trip to the Sweet 16 in 2013.